


Morals Aren't Worth Shit

by goodnight_dog, Luciferous_Lampadomancy (orphan_account)



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: M/M, Mafia AU, Vigilante AU, general blood and violence, mafia boss!Levi, vigilante!eren
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-29
Updated: 2016-10-09
Packaged: 2018-06-05 07:51:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6696163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goodnight_dog/pseuds/goodnight_dog, https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Luciferous_Lampadomancy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Being the sole vigilante of New York city brings you into contact with some pretty deadly people, and gets you into scrapes with even more, but when Eren meets a mafia boss with a chest full of vengeance, a tongue like a viper and a need for escape, his need to kill is skewered.</p><p>The chance of making someone see their wrongdoings prevails over his desire to end them, and to find someone so cruel with so many scars from wars he did not fight grants him the perfect opportunity.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi there guys! So this is the third work we'll be publishing here and it's one of the longer ones, so you'll be in for a bumpy ride.  
> ( goodnight_dog = Damien/Levi, Luciferous_Lampadomancy = Tobi/Eren )

In retrospect, community college might not have been that bad of a difference compared to taking over the family business. But when you're five foot three of pure rage and angst, trained since you could walk to kill or be killed, career paths are somewhat... limited.

Levi had never much appreciated his role or the responsibilities it involved but after a while, you simply become used to the death. You become used to the torture and the interrogations and the hunting. It just becomes background noise to a much larger scheme. Levi wasn't all too sure if he even remembered what motives or boundaries were anymore. He'd become used to exacting his self-hatred on victims when he was confirmed the kill. If they could die, they'd die in every way Levi could make them.

His associates would bet on how long it would take him to kill someone, and that angered him even more. Money, fun and games; that's all it was turning into for them, the longer he led them on the path of blood and war. He, however, felt the weight build up on his shoulders every time he watched the life leave another person's eyes. Watch them shudder in death's grasp, plead for mercy, then leave. The dying light of a human truly was a beautiful thing witness, but a burdensome was too. It angered him that he couldn't make them last longer.

He knew he was walking into a trap that night but, as ever, blinded by his rage, he never noticed the shadows, not until they were upon him. Not until the world went black, and the ringing of death sounded in his ears all over again.

He'd awoken to a lightless room, and it took a few grunts and panicked breaths to realize he was blindfolded. And completely immobile.

"Why-why can't I move?!" he growls, more to himself than whatever may lay in the shadows.

"Necessary precautions for a ruthless killer." A smooth voice responds to the smaller man as he  walks around the room. Completely soundproof, with his own footfalls trained through the years to be silent. Not that Levi could see, but he was taller, and was dressed in all black, save for a lighter gray katana sheath strapped to his back, and a red ribbon handle on the kunai knives that poked out from their position strapped to the sides of his thighs.

 _Humanities' Last Hope_ was his name, the flicker of hope in the dark times the new Mafia Boss created. He was around before Levi had come to power, but only a select few whispered his name. However, with Levi's killing streak, his expertise was more often needed when police would turn a blind eye.

Turns out he became a force to be reckoned with, but he knew this day would come, and he made arrangements for it.

"Please do calm down, I wouldn't want to be killing you while you're panicked... It'd be very damaging to your pride, not to mention your image." The man's voice is calm, completely calm, and it echoes slightly as it bounces off the bare walls. The room itself was empty, save for the two men, and a carpet, one window in the ten foot ceiling, and one door.

Levi was snarling - a rabid, cornered animal - as he listens. It was too late to consider the chance of damaging pride, Levi's was shattered enough. The Good Samaritan he was out to kill now had an undeniably large upper hand over him, and it made the raven seethe.

"So what - you drug me, put me in a cellar and plan to beat the shit out of me? Fucking pathetic for Humanities Last Hope, if you ask me. Sounds to me like you're scared, Eren Jäeger."

He can't see, but he doesn't need to, lips twisting into a sneer. It wasn't hard to find a name in the city that never sleeps, but where Mike, Hanji and Erwin insisted he leak the vigilante's name, Levi denied. He wanted the thrill of this kill all to himself. Wanted to play games. And he'd be at checkmate before Eren could realize.

"Oh?" Eren's voice is still calm as ever as he continues moving silently about the room, "Tell me something then would you? If you happened to know my name, if it's even correct, then you should also know that I do not lay a single hurtful finger on my victims." He smirks under the mask as he gets closer to the man tied on the floor, “I let my blades do it for me…” He gets down on one knee at Levi’s side and hums softly.

"Oh, and, another thing, humor me would you?" He chuckles and pulls out one of his kunai, making sure Levi hears the unsheathing of the blade, "If maybe I _was_ in fact, scared of you, as you put it," he takes the blade and sneaks the tip up under the blindfold, "Then why would I ever try and kill off ten of your people, risk getting my name leaked just for you to find it, and, oh I don't know, capture you and take you to my home?"

He snickers and slowly pulls the blade up to easily slice away the fabric from Levi's eyes, leaving a thin, very thin slice up the bridge of Levi's nose. "I figured you might want to see the stars for the last time, you know, make death sweet?"

"Piece of shit!" Levi barks, blood dampening his temple from where his head had hit the floor earlier, "It ain't me you gotta be afraid of, it's my people. I'm replaceable. There's a whole fucking queue of people to take my place if I die, and you'd better fuckin' believe someone'll end up catching you, bleed you out like a pig for slaughter and make sure those organs go for millions on the market. Maybe even carve off that pretty face of yours to the joy of a few viewers who'd pay good money to see you squirm."

While his threats weren't empty, his voice shook. He knew very well that he could die, and though he'd never admit it, he was scared. Too young to die, but then again, he'd done enough to deserve it. All the corpses he'd stepped over, but still he wasn't satisfied.

"You think you'll win by killing me? You're so wrong," he drawls, forcing his voice back to its usual, sultry and charming tone, "You'll have the entire Ackerman mob after you, Jäeger, and probably all of this shitty city's cops too. We could pay plenty of money to have you hunted down in a matter of hours. Wonder how much we'll have to set reward at to have your head delivered on a silver platter to the local sheriff’s office."

Eren can only click his tongue and shake his head at the man at his feet, "You know, it's a shame you're so vain to think I'm killing you for myself, and for my own wellbeing. I couldn't give two shits over who it is that I kill. I just happened to have quite a few people asking for _your_ head on a platter." He smirks again beneath the mask, and reaches down to pinch Levi's cheek before taking out a small cloth to wipe the kunai clean.

"And where is said "mob" now anyway? If they wanted me dead don't you think they would've come with you? Plus, they're all idiots, and I had a lot of fun picking them off one by one. The rest will fall easy once you're gone." He smiles again, sweetly, even if Levi can't see it, "And you granted me the perfect chance! How sweet of you!"

"You think killing people will make up for those you've lost?" Levi murmurs, eyes hard and riveted on Eren, "You're no better than me. You just choose your kills more carefully. And you aren't bound like I am. 'Vigilante'? What bullshit. You're just a coward in a mask who thinks he can bring down organized crime."

Sneering, he lets the blood from an earlier punch trickle between his teeth, snarling, "You think we don't have this whole fucking city wired? Think we don't have every single cop on our side? You haven't got a hope in hell. You're just one little punk who thinks he can make this shitty city a better place, but you won't. If I die, there'll be another in my place, another me, and they'll send my dogs after you. They'll enjoy seeing you ripped to shreds. By then you'll just be another body in me bayou. Another corpse the Mafia has at their feet. You're no one, Jäeger. And in hindsight, neither am I. There are always men like us."

"You know, this is actually quite amusing to listen to." Eren laughs outright, letting himself sit cross legged at Levi's side, "You're trying _oh so desperately_ to make me rethink what I'm going to do to you, only because _you're_ the one that's scared, you're scared that your life will be gone because you haven't done jack shit with it." He tilts his head, laughter gone.

"You say we're the same, and you make a valid point, in some ways we are. However, the key difference between the people you kill, and the people I kill, is that the ones I kill are people like _you_. I kill those that commit morally heinous crimes. I kill those that think they can get away with whatever the hell they want. I kill those that murder without a purpose, without a reason," he pauses and brings the tip of the knife to Levi's nose, "I kill those that kill for fun, like you." He starts digging in the tip of the knife until there's beads of red bubbling up underneath it. His voice has taken on that of a snarl now that his anger has started to get the better of him.

"I may be a coward in a mask, but this coward in a mask can die happily because I made some things right with the world. I righted some wrongs. What did you do? Create the wrongs. That's why you fear death. You fear it because all you've done with your life is waste it on blind anger that you makes you misinterpret what you do into something pleasurable for yourself." He flicks the kunai away from Levi's nose, leaving a small, but deep gash, and unsheathed the katana with the other hand in the same movement, bringing it down to rest against Levi's bare throat, "Any last words?"

"You think I do this for fun?" Levi says, voice eerily flat and breathless as he gazes up at Eren, praying to god that in the dim light of the room, Eren couldn't see how terrified he looked, "You really think that?... I'm doing this to survive, because my family have fucked up things in this city so bad, I can't make it better. I've tried. I tried making things better, and where did that get me? My mother, dead. I tried but no one in this fucking shit hole enjoys safety. Things are too complex. Too many strings are tangled for me to unravel them, so might as well cut. And you're right, I'm scared. I have friends that work for me, close friends, and if my people don't maintain their inexorable exterior, they die."

_Hanji. Erwin. Mike. Isa and Farlan. They'll live, but what then? Without me there? This can't be it- can't be the end, surely..._

"This is all I know. Death. Murder. Torture. Whatever. It's all I've been taught. Taught that that's how you get respect in a shitty place like this. That people need to be afraid of how much they need you. We've taken down sex trafficking routes, drug-lords, government and military division scandals that could've resulted in fucking nuclear war, but all _you_ kind of people care about is the death toll. You're all worth jack shit. So go ahead, kill me, take down my mob. I'd like to see you do a better job on your own."

"You're damn right I care about the death toll." Eren snarls quietly, "You ever fucking notice something? Notice how sometimes when your stupid mob goes out to take down drug lords, there's always one or two less guys to deal with than you remember?" Eren raises an eyebrow, "Ever notice how when you infiltrate some terrorist's place, the way is always clear for you? Or at least clearer than you expected? Ever notice security already down?" He snarls even more, "I've been a silent shadow helping out your little _organization_ because I know some of what it does is good, and I've _saved_ more of your men than I killed."

He shakes his head and continues, digging the blade in farther against Levi's neck, "The redhead? Really bright green eyes? Saved her from some random asshole with a gun behind her back, she never even knew. The really big bulky blonde? Saved him when he accidentally set off an explosive on one of his solo missions. I disabled it, he never knew." He laughs humorlessly, "I don't just care about the death count you guys rack up, I care about the fact that you add _unnecessary_ deaths to it, and cause more mayhem than anyone could possibly deal with. Half of the time, for you especially, it is for fun.

"You know, every one of the people of your little gang I killed because someone put a price over their head, and gave me a specific reason as to why to kill them. I've turned people down before, I don't just go into killing someone because someone gives me money. I do it because people need to be put to justice. And you... You have a death toll so fucking high, I wish I could kill you ten times over." The blade sinks deeper, letting a steady stream of blood start flowing from the shallow wound, "You're despicable."

Fire sears at his neck, makes him dizzy and drunk on the pain of it and the notion he might die, and he laughs. It's all he can do. Just laughs, cold and heartless, just like he's always been.

"Well aren't you a fucking godsend, Jäeger," he grins, "Saving my men like that. How thoughtful of you. You seem to forget that we're still enemies here. Telling me that changes nothing. I'd still rip your dick off and shove it down your throat until you suffocate if I could. People still die. Even if you stop one person from meeting their maker, someone has to pay the price and die in their place. It's pointless, trying to be the good guy, because soon enough you start hating people more and more, and what kind of hero would you be if you killed people because you hated 'em, huh? You'd be just like us, Eren... Just like us."

Groaning when he feels blood pool by his ear, he clenches his eyes shut, hissing, "Don't be such a fucking pussy! If you're gonna kill me, do it! This city has taken fucking everything from me, I have nothing more to lose! You'd be doing me a favour, you piece of shit!"

"I'll never become someone like you." Eren spits in response, tilting the blade ever so slightly to make sure he can sever the proper blood vessel, "Good, doing favors is what I do for a living." He sneers as he easily slices the blade through Levi's jugular and stands in the same motion, taking his cloth and immediately starting to wipe it clean, snarling down at the writhing man at his feet.

  
Levi smiles up at Eren, lips quivering as his consciousness begins to wane, and, in the last moment before his body begins to spasm, his eyes flick up over Eren's shoulder.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren is a little shit, and Levi heals well enough to test out Eren's pain tolerance for himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You thought Levi was the major character death? PSYCHE
> 
> Damien (Levi): [levi-fucking-ackermann](http://levi-fucking-ackermann.tumblr.com/)  
> Tobi (Eren): [jaegerhugs](http://jaegerhugs.tumblr.com/)

She pressed the barrel of the gun into the nape of the vigilante's neck, holding it firmly and letting the switch click, slowly enough for him to hear. She couldn't rush this. That could skewer the rescue mission, but seeing her cousin bleeding out on the floor made her blood boil.

Eren never expected anyone to come to Levi's rescue, well, actually, that's a lie. He just expected them earlier, and he's cursing himself for delaying in his killing when he feels the barrel of the gun and hears the click. Too late to react. Too late to get out.

"Drop the fucking blade," she hisses, and when the brunet doesn't comply immediately, she is springing on him. With movements too sharp for Levi to track, Mikasa has him down, boot stomping with a sickening crunch onto Eren's wrist, something evidently breaking and making him drop the katana, only for her to kick it away. Knee against his back, she fought for his hands, not caring for the shattered wrist as she cuffed him and ripped the kunai from the straps on his thighs.

"King is down. Checkmate. Send the Queen," she murmurs into the radio on her shoulder - old cop style from her days in the force - before leaving Eren on the floor, kicking all weapons out of reach as she hurried to Levi, jacket thrown from her shoulders to slip beneath his head.

"Sir? Sir, can you hear me? I need you to keep blinking, let me know you can hear me, okay?" she calls, ripping the crimson scarf from around her neck to press against his wound roughly, "Levi- shit, don't quit on me now, asshole."

His mind is swimming when Eren half hears the command, but he isn't surprised when suddenly he's on the ground and his Katana is skittering away across the carpet, away from his shattered wrist. He doesn't yelp in pain, or even gasp. He's deathly silent, just as he trained, but there's a vicious sneer hiding under the mask as he watches the female tend to Levi.

He wanted him dead, and he's not. This is the first mission failed for Humanity's Last Hope, and yet, for some reason he cannot place, even if he's sneering, there's something in the back of his mind celebrating the fact that Levi lived, even if he is still staring death straight in the eye.

"Don't you fucking die on me, you short, psychotic bastard!" Mikasa yells, delivering a slap to Levi's cheek that made him gasp and splutter, just long enough to give the others time. Through the ringing bells of death in his skull, he hears footsteps. Mike's voice, Hanji's too, then a bespectacled face looming over him, muttering something incoherent as they order the paramedics with them on how to patch him up and stabilize him.

Erwin pulls Mikasa back from the scene, crushing the younger female to his chest in an embrace as she trembles and cries, bloodied hands clutching the lapel of his jacket, and he gazes, emotionless, down at his boss, dragging in ragged breaths as he clung to his life. Few recovered from severed jugulars, but with Hanji on site, he had a fighting chance.

Mike, on the other hand, had different plans. One, large hand clasped Eren's shoulder and flipped him over, then grabbed the front of his shirt to hoist him off the floor and throw him up against the wall. Didn't even say a word, just held him there, a hand around his throat until Erwin's voice cut through.

"Down boy. He's not your chew toy. No one lays a hit in until boss gets his hands on him. Get him into the van and take him back to HQ."

Eren still doesn't gasp when he's manhandled, doesn't give the blonde bloke he saved the time of day to even utter a pained, or even slightly scared gasp when he's held by his throat. Only glares past him at the bustle around Levi, stare hidden under the mask.

He could care less what's done with him, just as long as he gets to eventually finish his job. Technically he could fight back now, he could even when it was just Mikasa. He's a trainer in self defense tactics, and could easily hold his own long enough to get his weapons again despite his hands being handcuffed.

Doesn't matter though, he's gonna see Levi soon enough, he'll get his chance.

"Oi." His voice is still smooth despite the hand grasped around his throat, "I better not find a single scratch or blemish on my blades or there will be hell to pay."

"Don't worry," Erwin tells him firmly, but his eyes still rested on Levi, "We'll leave them intact so we can bury them with what's left of your body. But if Levi doesn't survive," he turns to Eren now, Mikasa glaring at the brunet too, "I won't spoil you in the details, but you're going to wish we killed you here once we're done with you."

"Get that piece of shit out of here," Hanji snaps, much to Mike's joy as he hauls Eren from the room, escorted by two other mob members.

"How's he looking?" Mikasa mumbles from Erwin's arms, to which Hanji replies, "Stable, for now. Gonna be weak for a day or two and have one hell of a scar but hey, it'll look damn cool."

They push up their glasses with a finger not covered in blood to peer up at the others, instructing firmly, "Ackerman, you head back with Mike and the others. I want to keep Levi here until it's safe to move him."

\---

"Not sure how much that'll gain you, seeing as Levi wanted to die." Eren murmurs dismissively to the other blonde as he's hauled out, face neutral again beneath the mask.

"You know? Oh wait, what was your name again?" He addresses the man hauling him outside now, "You /could/ at least give me that much, hmm?"

"I'd keep your mouth shut if you wanna make it through HQ without being gutted," Mike mumbles, shoving Eren into the back of the van and following quickly, leaving him on the floor as he takes his seat by the window through to the driver, glaring at the masked man at his feet.

"Base," he calls through to the driver, knuckles white as he holds his shotgun across his lap, still glaring down at Eren. So many things he could say. He could stomp the guys skull in if he wanted to, but he kept his anger in check. He'd be killed if he so much as scuffed the boss's catch.

"Pity, you don't even want to see my face, I'm surprised all of you never once thought to take the mask off." He chuckles softly again, shifting slightly to try and get a bit more comfortable, "Don't you wanna see who it is that tried to kill your precious boss? Until you intervened and denied him his wish to die?"

"You don't get it, do you?" Mike sighs, leaning forward to pin Eren with his glare, "Only Levi gets to see who's under that mask. Once he's recovered, he has the pleasure of torturing you until your pathetic body gives out, and we can feed you to the dogs. Perfect timing too; we just had new imports of torture tools from Russia and Levi is yet to break them in."

He shuts himself up then, Eren's words chilling him. He knew how much Levi hated his life, his position. Often went to extreme lengths to put himself in harms way in order to die a mafia death, but he, Erwin, Hanji and Mikasa had all sworn and oath to Kenny to keep him from doing so.

"Little shit just has to find his moment," the old man had huffed upon the first incident, when Levi purposely stepped into line of fire at a shootout, "He'll have it at some point. The moment where he realizes he wants to do it. When he falls in love with the blood."

"You don't seem to get it either then, do you?" Eren murmurs back, determined to break at least one of Levi's men, "If what he said to me tonight was anything to go by, he doesn't want what he's doing now, he wants something different, but he can't because he grew up in the world he's in now, and he's in too deep to leave. And if you all can't see that in your time working with him and I could in the few short minutes I had, then you're all shitty excuses for people to call yourselves his friend."

"Twenty nine times," Mike mutters, tight lipped and looking out of the window, "Twenty nine times in ten years Levi has put himself in harms way to get himself killed. He's tied to this life, much more than any of us are, or ever will be. The direct descendant of the original boss of the Ackerman branch of the Mafia. If he refuses his rightful place, the structure we have here goes to shit. All the cops, the hospitals, our eyes and ears, all gone. But, if he is killed in action, then that's it."

He scowls down at Eren again now, so very tempted to crush the guys skull beneath his boot, "People like you wouldn't understand. You want to be the good guy, and you get to be. Levi didn't get that chance. The rest of us did. We chose to enlist. He didn't. Twenty nine times. Thirty, thanks to you."

"And what exactly is any of this gaining you?" Eren asks, almost quietly, as if he actually cares, which a piece of him does, he wants to know why these people do the things they do and what they get out of it, "You say I _get_ to be the good guy. What's stopping your people from doing the same thing?"

Mike's eyes soften, memories of the one he lost flashing behind them, but his voice is still low, still gravelly when he replies, "Sometimes, you come to hate the world too much to be the good guy anymore. I didn't choose this life to make the world a better place, none of us did. We do it because we have grudges. Insatiable needs. Hatred. We all have our reasons, Eren. And so does Levi."

"His mother." Eren murmurs, his voice actually soft this time, soft and truly meaningful, "I know... I lost my mother to your people so many years ago too. Don't know if you could know or remember him, but Nile. He killed her, so I killed him, and then started killing for other people's revenge."

"He watched his mother beaten, raped, and murdered by a gang of so called vigilante's. She was a street worker, wanted to provide for him so he didn't have to be part of this life, and he tried to get a part time job at ten years old to help her out, and that's how it ended. He came crawling to Kenny with a bloody knife in one hand and someone's eyeball in the other," Mike rambled, not sure if he should be telling this to Eren, but it stopped him speaking of his own loss. Stopped him breaking down.

"The people meant to protect them killed his mother, so he killed them too. But there's a difference between you and him. You kill because you think people deserve justice for their revenge. He kills because he thinks people are full of shit. He enjoys it, as much as he denies it, because each time he kills, he feels his mother is smiling on him."

"They weren't vigilantes..." Eren curses, his own blood boiling at the remembrance of the three people Mike speaks of, "They were people who thought calling themselves as such could let them get away with whatever the fuck they want. I remember watching a kid kill them actually, didn't know it was Levi. I had a personal score to settle with them as well and was on the way, but Levi had beat me to it."

"Personal scores are what we live by," Mike murmurs, eyes cast away again, "We've all seen too much shit to just abandon Levi. We're a small mob, but a deadly one. A family meant to protect him until he fulfills whatever purpose he has and we- look... There's no point trying to understand us. You won't. Just try not to think of anything. You're gonna die soon, so trying to figure us out isn't the best last thought to have."

Eren snorts at that, "I have a couple days, I fucked him up pretty good. And I already knew most of what you told me of his mindset, you just gave me the background to prove it. I'm not an idiot. All I want to know is why the fuck do you do some good things, when most of the shit you do makes me want to kill every last one of you. Do you even have a distinction?"

"You'd never understand why we do it," Mike murmurs, detached and hollow, the memories always did that to him, "And I won't waste my breath trying to explain it to you..."

He trails off when the van comes trundling to a stop, not saying another word as he hauls Eren from the back and into the alley the vehicle had parked by. Escorted by two armed guards, Mike still kept his grip on Eren firm despite their presence, right until they reached the door to the warehouse.

Nestled on the Southern docks, with most used for storage, a warehouse so rundown on the outside barely raised suspicion. Perfect for a mob. Inside was an entirely different story, but Mike didn't grant Eren the chance to get much of a look around before dragging him to the basement of the place.

Eren doesn't push any longer, even if he wishes to. But now that the sympathy he felt is slowly dissipating, anger at the man's refusal to talk is rising. He stays calm and quiet though, even if he knows his arms will be bruised from the rough handling. Not that it'll matter with his very speedy recovery time. The bruises will be gone by the time Levi gets to him.

"So, what's your plan? Keep me in the cellar until your boss gets better so he can use me as his torture device tester?"

"That's the basic gist of it, yeah," Mike grunts, pulling Eren into one of the rooms. An interrogation room no less. A single, steel chair, bolted to the floor, same as the table. A dim, halogen light that gave the place a blue tint, and a two way mirror across from where Eren sat.

Clamping a hand onto Eren's shoulder, Mike forced him into the chair, handcuffing both wrists to the back of it before retreating from the room.

He paused, just at the last moment, to glare at Eren, and half-growled, "Enjoy this place, Eren. It's the last you'll see."

Eren only smirked against his mask, chuckling deeply and crossing his ankle over his knee, "I wouldn't bet on it, Mike."

His blood runs cold; nothing he'd ever heard or seen chilled him quite like that did. And he... he never mentioned his name, did he? With a deep frown and pale face, he turns back to Eren, wanting both to question him and beat the shit out of him at the same time, but he's interrupted by the buzz of his phone.

"Hello?" he almost chokes out, eyes on Eren as he answers the call.

"Mike? It's H; Levi's gonna be fine. We're headed back now. Mikasa says stay with Eren until she gets there, but make sure she doesn't lay a finger on him."

"No promises," he growls, closing the door and leaning back against the wall in the room so he was looking right at Eren.

"Oh hey, staying with me to keep me company? Or is it that you don't trust me?" Eren continues chuckling, but it's dark and almost malicious, "Or maybe a combination of the two?" He relaxes against the chair, looking almost comfortable and sighing gently, "You seem so set on the fact that Levi would kill me, but I'm not sure of that, do you know why?"

"To be honest, right now, I don't much care about your enlightening sermons," Mike huffs, turning his head a little when footsteps come marching back along the hall, "All you need to remember is that when the boss is up and fit enough, he's probably gonna rip your throat off. Did he say something about suffocating you on your own dick by any chance? Yeah-I've seen him do that to someone before so chances are he'll follow through on that promise, kid."

It was Mikasa that came bursting back into the room, glaring at Eren for a moment before turning to Mike and muttering lowly, "Boss is okay. Recovering quick and he wants to get down here soon. I'm gonna clean out the others so he has free reign. What are the bets?"

"Choking on his dick or being shot," Mike replies, eyes still rooted on Eren, "Levi promised the former, but I wouldn't put too much money on it. Chances are he'll shoot him first."

"Ooo, that ought to be fun. I like being shot, gives me a thrill you know?" Eren laughs, relaxing back into his chair even more, "Care if I weigh in on the bet? I'll say he does in fact shoot me, ummm let’s say three times - no... four, and I'm just gonna sit here and smirk, and he'll get pissed and storm off. No doubt he'll be down later on, but he won’t do everything right now, and no, he won’t kill me." Eren nods affirmation, "And seeing as it _is_ my life on the line here, let's make my stakes my life. If I win, I keep it, and if I lose, well... I lose it. Simple enough huh?"

Mikasa's mile long stare cut straight into Eren alongside Mike's, her upper lip curling into a snarl. She'd barely moved a shoulder before the man had his hand curling firmly around her arm, and she fell back from her defensive stance without even blinking.

 _It's that fucking smirk_ , she hisses bitterly, eyes not once able to leave Eren's mask, the creases of a smile showing on that of the jaw she could glimpse, _He's gonna wipe that fucking smirk off your face for what you did_.

Of course, part of her wondered if what the vigilante spoke was true: she knew Levi's utter distaste for his job, but anyone working under the iron first of the Mafia knew the escape was limited to a bullet in the head or running for the rest of your life. They all knew too many secrets to do anything else but be hired dogs until they eventually died.

"So!" Eren chirps gleefully, eyes shining beneath the mask as he flicks his gaze between the pair, "When's Levi gonna show up-oh oh! Can we bet on that too? I'd say right about~" He eyes the door, the smirk still gracing his features as he hears almost silent footsteps coming closer. Just the slight shadow under the door was enough for him to flick his gaze back to Mike and Mikasa before the door burst open at Eren's word: "Now.”

Hanji couldn't keep him down by the time the pain had subsided, and they knew better than to interfere when they saw him grab the polished M9 from under his desk. A couple of people had called after him, but Hanji only waved them down. It was better off if he was left alone in this state. This wasn't the habitual Levi; this Levi was on a fucking war path.

"Get out of my fucking sight," he hisses, much to Mikasa's distaste, but Mike is quick to usher her outside. He knew this kind of Levi, Mikasa didn't. He knew better than to linger.

Levi stands, glaring at Eren, with a bloodied shirt collar and razor stare. He wished - oh how he wished - he could put a few bullets in Eren's head and have done with it, but that was not the answer he could use right now. He needed information. He needed vengeance.

"You're in deep fucking shit, Jaeger."

"Nice to see you too!" Eren huffs, pouting beneath the mask "That's not a very nice way to greet someone hmm?" He’s grinning again after a moment, "I'm glad you're healing well, that's good. Also, is that an M9? Been shot by one of those before, but it was only a graze, not too big of a scar. Didn't hurt much, so I doubt you shooting me will hurt either. But you're welcome to try if you want."

"Shut the fuck up, you shit," Levi growls, unable to find any more colourful or intelligent words to spew. The pain and his hatred had amalgamated into insanity, to the point where he cared little for what was left of Eren by the end of the night.

Marching forward, he jams the muzzle of the gun into Eren's kneecap, one hand pushing at his thigh to keep his leg still. He fires, without so much as a warning, feeling the vibration of the shot against his palm on Eren's leg. He's leaning close to the brunet, snarling at those eyes he can glimpse beneath the mask.

"That's for leaving me alive for Mika to find," he barks, moving the gun without leaving Eren time to recuperate and fires into the other kneecap, "And that's for making it hurt so fucking much."

Eren doesn't even flinch, he never has, he never will, "Not my fault you weren't meant to die." He only chuckles, his smirking lips making his eye shine beneath  the mask, the color still hidden from Levi, but not the brightness of them.

"But I am glad it hurt, if anything you at least deserved the pain. Go on though, make me pay for it, but the scream or the fear, or whatever you're looking for, you won’t get it. No amount or type of torture will do anything, no doubt you've heard that already though. Want to try it for yourself? Test that theory? Take out your self-hatred and anger on me? I welcome it. I'd like to see you try." He challenges with a sneer, glaring up at Levi, _daring_ him to do his best.

“See, Eren, the problem is, I'm past the point of caring right now," Levi huffs, leaning his knee on Eren's leg to push the bullet further into the bone and flesh where it had burrowed, "If I was _really_ in the mood, I would hook you up to an IV, let some good old acid work it's magic on you until you're nothing but rotten flesh, guts spilling out over the floor for my dogs to feed on. But I'm tired and in pain and getting real, _real_ sick of your bullshit... so I think I'll just empty what's left in this chamber into you then call it a night."

He punctuates his words with another shot, this time into Eren's shin, hearing the bone splinter with a satisfying crack. Somewhere above his head, dogs bark excitedly, ready for their meal.

"I'd love to use you as a punching bag," Levi admits, "Maybe stretch that pretty flesh around some padding and make you into one. You seem to resist pain so much better than anyone else I've ever had holed up in this room. But I really can't be fucked with you."

"Is that so?" Eren chuckles, deep and low, "Cause _I_ bet that you'd shoot me four times, and then you'd leave. So I'd suggest you'd use that last shot wisely hmm? You won’t kill me though, I know you won't, isn't that right Levi?"

"You don't deserve to die," Levi barks, "Not yet, Jaeger. I'm gonna see that I stretch out every last minute of your pathetic life. Even if you don't grovel for mercy by the end of it, I'll be damned sure to make you bleed. I'll break you in every conceivable way. I'll find out what you fear the most and torture you with it until your dying breaths are spent looking at me and knowing I've fucking won."

Levi lands the last shot in Eren's left ankle, sneering as he does and stepping back as he feels the gun is empty now. He grins at the blood seeping onto the floor down the legs of the chair.

"Have a good night, Eren. Sleep well."

  
"Oh I won’t sleep, but it'll be a good night, don't you worry." Eren murmurs cheerfully to Levi's retreating back, "Goodnight Levi, _heal well_."


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> College life sucks guys XD I promise we're still writing, its just finding the time to go back, edit, and post. Midterms are coming up though so I'll try my best to edit some more stuff for you all and post it! Make sure you comment to show which stories you want more of! Thanks for sticking with us <3

"Boss?" The voice made him glance up from his laptop to see Mika in the doorway, sporting a worried expression. A small wave of the hand gave her permission to enter, settling in the leather chair the other side of Levi's desk, and she asked numbly, "How you feelin'?"  
  
"Asides almost bleeding to death and half in the mind to ask that asshole to finish the job, not so bad," he responds bitterly, pouring another glass of whiskey to hand to her.  
  
She held it weakly, fingernail scratching the glass for a while before she murmured, "I'm sorry... for saving you, it wasn't my call."  
  
"Whatever, it's done. I'm alive," he responds tightly, hoping she'd let it go, but to no avail.  
  
"But you don't want to be, right? Same way Kenny went."  
  
"Don't say that bastards name. Not here. Just stop apologizing and whining or get the fuck out of my office."  
  
"Sorry boss, I'll- I'll go check on Eren," she stumbles out, downing the whiskey in one before leaving with a ducked head.  
  
\---  
  
Eren quite enjoyed the entertainment for the night. It came in the form of the guards that watched over him. The first was a rather tall brunette, who broke rather easily under Eren's words. He was nervous to begin with, and Eren's taunts quickly proved too much and he was scampering off.  
  
The second was a bulkier man, blonde hair short in a buzzcut. He ignored Eren quite well, until of course the earlier brunette was mentioned. That's what got him to break. Eren had to hand it to him though, he did quite well.  
  
The third was a much shorter woman, a couple inches shorter than Eren, and had long brown hair tied up in a pony tail. She wasn't easy by any means, but she wasn't difficult to crack either. It was probably the blood and the fact that he was shot and still comfortably sitting that fazed her.  
  
The next was another buzzcut, this one even shorter than the blonde earlier. He didn't last long at all. The only one who put up a real challenge was the stone faced, short blonde with her hair done up in a tight bun. She didn't budge, she didn't crack, she didn't show anything, and Eren soon came to admire her, until of course, that changed.  
  
Four hours after the blonde took up post, he finally sees the blonde shift, only to watch the handle turn and see the red scarf of the other female walk in, taking the blonde's spot with a small nod.  
  
"Oh hey! Miss me?"  
  
"You really think you're much different than us? Much better than us? Pathetic. You're a stone's throw away from being _worse_ then us, Jäeger," she hisses, dismissing the other guard from the room before taking a seat across from Eren.  
  
"Do you have any idea what's gonna happen to you? Any idea what he's gonna have done to you?"  
  
Snickering again, Eren shifts so he's more comfortable again, leaning into the seat, "I went over this with Levi, but let's see what you say: what makes you think we're the same?"  
  
"It all comes down to one thing," Mikasa grins, leaning her arms on the table so she leered towards Eren, "If you'd had killed Levi back there, you would've felt nothing but the buzz of ending someone's life. No remorse, no pain, no guilt. Just pride. We're the same, _Levi_ is the same."  
  
Eren listens, but he expected better, far better, and with that he laughs outright at her that soon tears are coming to his eyes.  
  
"Oh you _crack me up_ , you think the sense of pleasure you get is _pride_?! Hilarious, oh my gosh-oh that's good." He cackles again and only when he finally calms himself down enough to speak does he turn back to Mikasa, leaning forward as much as his restraint will allow, "We aren't the same. The fundamentals are the same, we both kill, we both do it for a purpose. However the key difference between me and between you, and your little mob here, is the fact that I do my killing for justice, for the safekeeping of others, for the human population as a whole and that's the only thing worthy of feeling pride after a kill for." He sneers loudly before he continues.  
  
"But you bastards, you bastards kill because you can, for your own sick pleasure, for your _o_ _wn_ pride. And that's something I can never forgive."  
  
"Yes, we do," Mikasa nods with a smile, "We do things for pleasure. Like what we're going to do to you. But we kill for our own reasons. People owe debts, cross a line, do things we deem immoral and boom, they're dead. We go for the queen, strike at the source, and the rest just falls apart around us. It's beautiful, really. An orchestrated disaster. We come to crave it. But we do kill for our reasons. Be it vengeance or business, we don't kill without reason."  
  
Eren shrugs as he leans back, "Point taken, still not quite the same, but point taken." He shifts, flinching under the mask as he brings his leg up to cross it again, but Mikasa can't see a damned thing under the mask.  
  
"However, I do still have something else to differentiate us. I don't _need_ to kill. I don't have the desire, the drive, the... _addiction_ that you have. You need to fufill it, so you make reasons, any reason possible to kill, and then go through with it. I have a different addiction, the addiction to bring about justice. I kill only when the need for justice _makes_ me."  
  
" _Justice_?" Mikasa scoffs, "Oh please, you wouldn't know a damn thing about justice. Or about it making you kill. There's a difference between killing because you think it's right and killing because of justice. Trust me, I know."  
  
She eyes Eren more closely, wondering if he really _didn't_ know what was going to happen, and that only made her grin wider.  
  
Eren scoffs right back at her, ignoring the grin, "I don't just kill because I think it's right, I kill because my moral duty calls for it."  
  
"Morals aren't worth shit, and you know it," Mikasa growls, "So you kill one guy? Five more are out there doing the same shit he is and worse. We're taking down whole organizations just _waiting_ to fuck up the lives of jumped up assholes like _you_. You think that your moral duty makes you better than anyone? You're still a murderer, Eren, just like us. But that won't make you see any differently. You're too proud to see it how we do. Maybe you will just before you die."  
  
"At least I'll die happy knowing I helped in making the world better. I know I can't do everything, I'm not calling myself a god or stupid shit like that," Eren scoffs, rolling his eyes, "all I know is I'm doing all I can with what I have, and I don't need people like _you_ trying to tell me that I think I'm better than anyone. I fucking know I'm not, I know I'm not the greatest person out there... But at least I know I'm better than the shitty ones that strut about the streets thinking they're entitled to do whatever the fuck they want just because they hide behind their little gang or posse or mob or whatever. I'm alone. Everything I do is on me and me alone. You could kill me right now and I wouldn't stop you. Levi could kill me and I wouldn't care. My life means _nothing_ , I don't give two shits if I live or if I die. I die? Great, one less person to deal with killing people, you keep me alive? I continue purging the evil I can."  
  
"That's what I was hoping you'd say," Mikasa grins, slipping the phone from her pocket and hitting speed dial, "Rico? It's me. Check boss, he should be out cold by now. Then come to 4. We're waiting for you."  
  
"Oh, not that I'm surprised at all, knowing the little I know of you, I can tell you'd go to great lengths to keep your boss safe-oh excuse me, _cousin_ safe." He shakes his head and chuckles more, "You know it'd be a shame to deny him taking the mask off of me to kill me himself."  
  
Mikasa kept her jaw set firmly, satisfied with the knowledge that this wasn't about Levi anymore. She stood to open the door, Rico and her associates filing into the room. The ash blonde and the raven females exchanged hushed words as two men set about readying Eren, another's prepping a sedative to inject him with.  
  
"It's just me. No one else under Levi knows. Keep it quiet, only invite the highest bidders. Don't publicize it. And I want a front row seat. Record it too. Maybe then Levi will forgive me."  
  
"Oh? What is this? Gonna sedate me? You saw how easily I complied when I was moved before, I know better than to fight back." Eren chuckles as he side-eyes the vial being prepped. "Can't say Levi will be too happy if I'm moved though... Especially if you're doing this behind his back..." He chuckles again, "You're gonna have hell to pay if his prey isn't where he left it~"  
  
"If you see where we're taking you then you may try to get out. Can't take any chances," Rico answered sharply, "You coming with us Mika?" Mikasa only nods, staring right at Eren as he's injected. Eren didn't do anything when the needle was pressed to his neck, only let the calming lull of sleep overtake him easily and quickly, knowing it would get over with faster the less he struggled with it.  
  
"Good. Let's get him out of the basement door. Place is crawling with people who might cop and attitude if they see us moving Eren."  
  
With much ease, Eren is lifted from the room, followed by Rico and Mikasa, the two glancing around anxiously as they go.  
  
"It'll keep him out for about an hour; he'll wake up in the van. Just so long as we get out of town before Levi's up. After that, he's a goner."  
  
\---

Eren woke up some time later, much more restrained in what he assumed to be a vehicle based on the noise, the smell, and the movement he was subject to despite being strapped to the wall in a darkened area. Still slightly drowsy, he didn't worry in the slightest, knowing Mikasa would never get away with what she was planning. Levi would come get him, and even though he knew his fate would be pretty much the same, he knew he much preferred it to be by Levi's hand.  
  
"How many do we have?" Mikasa asks, eyes on Eren as he rouses, but talking to Rico who sits by her, eyes out of the window to direct the driver.  
  
"Seven, so not as many as usual, but they all know who we're bringing in. Starting at five mil and rising. We'll make a lot of money out of him," he grins, eyes turned to Eren now before crowing, "Plenty of people willing to pay a pretty price to see you squeal, Jäeger."  
  
Eren only laughs at that, "I'm not surprised, I've made plenty of enemies, between _both_ of my identities." He looks over, foggy vision clearing to make out Mikasa in the dim light, "I wonder just how much Levi would torture you... I know his kind, he doesn't like his toys gone missing. Once he finds out you stole it to take his fun away... You'll have some hell to pay."  
  
"Worth it if I get to see you tortured until you die and make some money out of it. Trust me, Levi's too much of a slut for the money to care I took things into my own hands. Once he sees the millions we'll make off of you, he won't give a shit," Mikasa leers, but Rico glances at her, not convinced but not objecting either.  
  
Eren only snorts, seeing the glance Rico gives her and knowing he's right, "Believe what you will, all I know is I'm not gonna die tonight, nor will I die by Levi's own hand."  
  
"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that, Princess," Rico sniggers, glancing around when the driver taps on the partition to get her attention. The drive had stiffened her joints, but she and Mikasa easily uncoupled Eren from the restraints attaching him to the van, still leaving his arms bound tightly as they frog marched him from the van and straight into a building.  
  
"Mika, Rico, welcome back," grinned a tall, ripped brunette woman, "The doc's already in the room waiting for him. We got people seated and hooked up to the network, now we just gotta get this show on the road."  
  
"Mika, check our guests are comfortable, I'll take Eren down."  
  
Eren chuckles, "Think you can handle a trained assassin all on your own do you?" He taunts, but other than that doesn't raise a fuss as he's bustled into a room, "So how exactly is this thing gonna work? Are you gonna take off this damned mask at all? It's starting to get really stuffy you know.. Do the bidders see me through a glass wall or a window? Or am I in a room with a camera hooked up?"  
  
"All in good time, Eren," Rico smiles, setting Eren down in the anchored chair, she and the doctor working on undoing his restraints and locking him into the chair using the metal cuffs, at his wrists, ankles and neck.  
  
"Start with the mask," she instructed the 'doctor', "Five is the offer. It's an easy enough bait. And doc, have fun with him." It's the last thing she says before leaving the room, and the shutters at the front of the room lift away to reveal a layer of glass between the room and the viewers.  
  
Eren smirks under the mask as he gets restrained, allowing himself a fake shiver as the cold metal gets fastened around his neck. He figures they can hear him, if this was going to be torture, they probably wanted to be able to hear his supposed growls and shrieks of pain. Little did they know, they'd get none of it.  
  
"So you're all here to watch me get tortured, fun times, I wonder how many of you sickos are gonna want me stripped down and humiliated?" He snorts, "They said bidding starts at five, but I'm pushing it to ten mil before the mask comes off. I don't want you bastards seeing my face just yet~"  
  
Mikasa grins from her place at the control panel as she listens to Eren, watching the money rack up way higher than ten for a mere revelation of Eren's face. Fifteen-k before it starts slowing down, and God knows what fun would be had by the time they got to the million mark. If Eren even made it that long.  
  
"Thank you to bidder 512 for 17k to remove the mask, your order will be processed now."


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Place your bets, place your bets, this is the chapter where it happens~

"I'll fucking kill her!" Levi roars, kicking the free chair so hard it smashed and collapsed, "Little bitch stole my prize! I'll fucking-"  
  
With a wretched cough, he falls down to his knees, pain searing through his neck and Hanji is immediately by his side.  
  
"Boss, quit freaking out or you'll hurt yourself. We're getting a team ready to dispatch to the Underground now."

"Levi, stop being rash for a second and listen to me," Erwin growls as he tails his boss, "You're injured and in severe pain. We are more than capable of getting Eren back ourselves. You need to rest."  
  
"Fuck off!" Levi yells at him, stopping several of the dispatch team in their tracks as they watch the small Raven advance on his taller counterpart, "Eren is _my_ catch, my _kill_ , and I will not let her anger and need for vengeance get in my way. If we're saving him, then I'm going to be there. He is _mine_ , you hear me?"  
  
\---  
  
Eren's smirk still resides when he feels the 'doctor' move behind him to unfasten the black ribbon-like material to take off the mask. He smirk only grows when he gets tired of trying to take out the complicated knot and instead pulls out a knife to cut through the ribbon, letting the dark gray mask with two blackish streaks down the center fall to Eren's lap, and laughing as his eyes stay on Mikasa when the doctor pulls back the hood as well to unveil his unruly brown hair.  
  
"Remember me, Mika?"  
  
Mikasa's eyes grow wide as she stares at a face that is frighteningly familiar, but not one she can implicitly remember, yet still hatred blooms in her gut towards Eren. And she remembers one thing, and one thing alone. She wants him dead.  
  
"Let's start small, gentlemen," she addresses her audience, "I'll start a bidding of 50k for removal of the right ring finger. Any takers?"  
  
"Oooo that is quite small, why not just take off my thumb, it's the most useful after all." Eren chuckles and taps his fingers against the chair, "Or why not take the left ring finger? Make sure I can't wear a wedding ring? Or do you just not give a crap which finger, you just want to see me squirm." He laughs outright again and the cold metal against his Adam's apple only makes him laugh more.  
  
"You know it's a damn shame you don't seem to remember me. Repressed the memory? Though you recognized me, that's for sure. You wanna know who I am don't you?"  
  
"Thank you bidder 519, and for the extra tip of 3k we'll break the finger first, then cut the flesh. Doctor, if you'll do the honours please," Mikasa says steadily, ignoring Eren's questions blatantly.  
  
The doctor gives a slow, deliberate nod, standing at Eren's right side and uncurling his fist, one hand grasping his and the other closing around the appropriate finger. A couple of people lean forward in anticipation - they wanted to know if the rumours of a Eren not reacting to pain were true. With a quick yank and twist, he rips Eren's finger backwards, a sickening crunch sounding over the intercom.  
  
Eren's smirk falls to a neutral expression, then a smile spreads across his lips to the crunch of his finger as the pain only makes his hand flinch. A natural, innate, bodily reaction, but the only reaction Eren lets show.  
  
"Far too small Mika. You should know that after seeing me get shot four times by your cousin with no reaction. A simple break of my finger, and even cutting it off will do _nothing_."  
  
Mikasa ignores him, again, but Rico keeps a close eye on her. As the caller, she can't allow herself to be swayed, but the older female smiles as she sees how the Raven doesn't so much as shuffle to the sound of Eren's voice.  
  
"Next bid is for 150k," she begins as murmurs of approval go through the crowd at how the doctor so carefully slices away the flesh and cauterises the wound to keep Eren from bleeding out, "Which will be a free hand skin graft from the patient's right forearm. For an extra 50k, you will have the skin mounted and framed as a souvenir."

"Ooo that's a pretty damn good deal, got some tattoos on my forearms." Eren chuckles again, flexing his fingers to test out how well they move. He grins more when he realizes it won't impact his ability to wield his katana.  
  
"Oi, you." He turns to address the doctor, "Make sure if you're free handing it, don't butcher one of the tattoos huh? You wouldn't wanna displease a bidder with only a piece of a tattoo eh?"  
  
The doctor gives Mikasa a brief glance, to which the Raven girl nods. It's all the permission he needs. With a deceptively strong swing from a man so tall and lanky, he backhands Eren, applying enough force to make a satisfying crack and the brunets head flick to the side.  
  
He moves a stool along side Eren, polishing a scalpel as he does. Beyond the room, a camera adjusts angle so the audience get a birds eye view of Eren's arm as the doctor begins the incisions, practically cutting a border around the tattoo on the inside of Eren's forearm.  
  
Eren is silent at first when he's backhanded, then he starts sniggering delightfully before lifting his head back up to look through the spectators, his eyes now getting a wild gleam to them, "Oh! Do I get punished if I back talk then? Is that how this'll work? So if I yell at this guy I get slapped?" He grins maniacally as his eyes shimmer, "Please Mika, please tell me that I'm right!"  
  
"If you keep moving I could sever an artery," the doctor mutters in an almost pained voice, eyes glancing up at Eren, but rather than anger, there's pity and pain. He's halfway through carving off Eren's tattoo now, and returns to it quietly.  
  
"Thank you sir for your purchase, we'll return that to you at the end of the night," Mikasa smiles at the client who raises his glass to her before she turns back to the control board, "Next bid starting at 700k. Blinding the left eye by lethal injection of mild corrosive acid. Any raises on 700k?"  
  
Eren blatantly ignores the doctor's words, but a small whine starts in his throat to Mika's threat. That's the one thing he couldn't lose, his eyes. Even just one losing its eyesight terrified him to his very bones. It's the first time in awhile that he's felt fear, but his training prevented him from showing it, only the flashing of said eyes might have hinted at it.  
  
"We... we have an overriding bid," Mikasa murmurs, eyes flicking up to Eren, "Two million to sever the reverse knee tendons, rendering his legs completely immobile. Do I have any advances on two million?"  
  
She's stiff and shaking. Doing something like that would be irreparable. He'd lose all use of his legs. But then she remembered again. She didn't care. She wanted him dead.  
  
Eren felt his shoulders relax their tension when the overriding bid came through the intercom. He could keep his eyes, he could keep them.  
  
Breathing ever so slightly more stable, he relaxes as best he can in the chair, eyes losing their manic gleam as they go dead again when he feels the scalpel leave his arm with a piece of his skin. The tattoo, the wing tattoo is gone, but he can't bring himself to care.  
  
"Do your worst." He mutters, voice now completely void of emotion.

Mikasa is seconds away from buzzing through for security to move Eren from the chair to the surgical table when a hand in the front row raises - the same man who bid to have Eren's legs ruined, and he tells the Raven without even looking at her, "I'll raise it to five if you take the little bastards eye out too."  
  
Once again, Mikasa is stiff in her chair as the man stands and walks to stand before the glass, letting Eren get a better view of him as he says, "Little shit has cost me a lot of money and a lot of men. His legs aren't enough. Get rid of his eye as well, and make it ten."  
  
"Yes sir," Mikasa grins, "Doctor, please return to preparations for injecting his eye, then we'll move onto the next procedure."  
  
Eren feels his gaze harden as he looks on at the man, a member of one of the mobs before Levi's took over. He knew he missed one, but he could never find him. Apparently the little shit was just in hiding the entire time.  
  
"I remember you. I cost you nothing, if you didn't decide to be idiots, I wouldn't have had to do anything to you." His voice is still blank but his eyes hold the man in a stare of hatred. How dare he think he's entitled to take away his sight, his legs. He's the one who committed the crimes, Eren only purged his sinning men and brought justice.  
  
"After the stunt you pulled, killed off six of my men, the asshole we were after murdered my daughter and wife," the man retorts, completely monotone, "And if it were up to me, I'd pay people to do the same to you as that man did to them. But I think ten million for an eye and both legs is a pretty good deal."  
  
He doesn't return to his seat, and his smile only broadens when a guard enters the room, assisting the doctor by holding Eren's head still while the needle was brought towards his face.  
  
"Don't move," the doctor murmurs lowly so the intercom won't pick it up, "It'll hurt, but don't move while the needle is in."  
  
Eren's jaw clenched as he sees the needle get brought up, the man fading from his mind as the fact that he's going to lose his eye takes up all of his consciousness. The hands on his head make him want to scream as the needle gets closer and closer, and just as it's about to start pushing in, he feels hot tears break free from his eyes and start running down his cheeks, blinking once to clear his vision before giving into his fate, his gaze going blank once again.

"Left eye injected," the doctor relays over the intercom, "Administering mild corrosive. Sight will be lost in under a minute. Right eye's vision will remain intact."  
  
"That's right. Cry, bitch," the man beyond the window grins, taking another drink from his glass as the doctor steps back from Eren, displaying the empty needle to the audience to receive a round of applause.  
  
Tears continue to flow as he hears the doctor speaking, knowing he was never going to see out of the eye that was now growing cloudy. He can't believe it, he won't believe it. He doesn't give a crap about anything else that happens. He couldn't care less, all he knows is he won't even _feel_ the pain anymore, let alone react.  
  
"You got your reaction. That's the last anyone will ever see." He sneers, teeth bared before once again, his face falls neutral.  
  
"Legs now," chuckles the buyer, the drink in his hand replaced by a short woman who can't even look in Eren's direction, "I'll enjoy this one even more."  
  
"Your transaction is being processed sir, thank you for you-"  
  
It's a gunshot that ends it all, the same way it all began, and Mikasa is cut short with a strangled sob. She falls from the podium, blood trickling down between her eyes, and behind her was what could be mistaken for her doppelgänger, only with slightly different hair. Levi.  
  
Eren hears it, but he doesn't respond, his eyes are dead as they stare straight ahead, one seeing, one blind, both leaking the tears of all the bottled up pain through the years. He hears the screams of the people, he hears the shouts, but it doesn't affect him. Nothing will anymore.

Levi's position overrides all others, so there is no need for fights or more gunshots - asides the two he fires at the glass to shatter it. The doctor skitters from the room, the security guard not soon after, and Levi hears an irritable, but shaken, voice from behind him call out, "Oi! I payed to see that mutt suffer!"  
  
"You'll get a fucking refund," Levi growls out, unshackling Eren from the chair and asking him, "Can you walk?"  
  
His eyes stay straight ahead, and he doesn't even register that Levi's asking a question. He's essentially a dead man walking when he gets up and stands on his feet when he feels the metal release him, but doesn't move from there.  
  
Levi rakes his eyes quickly over the brunet, grimacing at the damage they already managed to inflict, but nothing seemed life threatening. Erwin came striding forward with restraints, but Levi waved him off, grabbing Eren's hand to pull him along as he began walking. Didn't look back. Couldn't look back.  
  
Stepped right over Mikasa's body. Told Hanji to leave it when they asked if he wanted her bringing back to base. Whacked Mike's hand away when he went to take Eren from him. No one else. Just him and Eren. No one.  
  
Eren is almost surprised, _almost_ being the key word, when he's not restrained, and instead simply pulled along by Levi. He expected more of an angry response from the man he tried to kill, he expected some sort of.. Well, anything other than how Levi is acting almost like he's rescuing a friend of his he was worried sick about, waving off restraints and refusing anyone else to even so much as touch him.  
  
Once bundled into the van, Levi lets Mike pull him away from Eren to shackle the brunet to the bench he sat on. He knew his placid demeanor could be a ploy, and didn't want Levi in harms way.  
  
Erwin looked taken back when Levi collapsed against him, but didn't stop himself from putting his arm around the smaller man's shoulders, letting Levi cry silently as the reality of what he'd done sank in. He had no one now. Mikasa was the last of his family. He turned his head towards the blond, not wanting Eren to see him crying, to think him weak.  
  
Eren's eyes continue to stare straight ahead, he should be feeling a shit ton of pain from walking so much on his legs, but his mind won't register it, it won't even register the fact that he's missing his tattoo, the one that connected him to his mother as she had the other wing. His subconscious registers it though, and it brings forth more tears from the ones already flowing. He doesn't think he'll ever stop crying, it's the only way he knows his eye is still there without a mirror.  
  
The drive back is a silent one, in which Erwin ended up with his head rested on Levi's, hand threaded into his hair to comfort him, but it didn't stop the raven from breaking down. Once back at the base, Levi ordered them all to go home. Many were weary and accepted that offer gratefully, wanting to spend the night with family after what had happened. Erwin and Hanji however, were reluctant.  
  
Erwin returned Eren to the cell. Hanji made sure Levi had something to eat before they left and locked down, posting six guards outside to keep watch through the night.  
  
Once he's back in his chair, the tears finally stop, and Eren lets his head fall, now staring blankly down at the table, his mind slowing down enough until it falls asleep. His eyes are open though, fixated on his lap while his mind shuts down for the night.


	5. Chapter 5

Levi turns the music loud and has his alcohol strong, not even bothering to dilute. He needs it to drown out the ringing of death. Needs it to remain in the medium between sanity and insanity. One sway too far either way, and he'd snap. He was bound to snap anyway.  
  
First, it was the despair, cold and cruel, telling him that he was not good enough, he'd failed his family, failed his mother. But then it was the rage, white hot and destructive. It was the rave that made him toy with the knuckle duster for well over an hour before deciding straight whiskey and obnoxiously loud classical music alone wouldn't help at all.  
  
Bottle in one hand, knuckle duster in the other, he traipsed from his elevated office down to the cell, remaining the other side of the mirror to begin with, simply watching Eren.  
  
The anger that was simmering began to boil and overflow the longer he looked at Eren, and he made no discrete entrance, kicking open the door and leaving it so. He unbolted the table from the floor, shoving it across the room and delivering a sharp punch to Eren's cheek bone, spitting angrily, "Rise and shine, asshole."  
  
Eren wakes and rouses when he hears the door slam open, lifting his head just in time to hear the crack of his cheekbone as its punched away from the man that stormed in. Spitting, a tooth comes out, but Eren still slowly brings his head up to stare straight out the window, his eyes blank, and nothing tensed in his body at all. The only thing that changed from Levi coming in was that his mind woke back up, and that's the only thing that would change.  
  
Levi realized how much of a mess he looked; nothing like the untouchable Mafia leader of twenty four hours ago. Shirt unbuttoned and tie hanging loose, matted blood at his neck from where he'd clumsily pulled off his bandages, eyes red and lips raw from the dehydration of alcohol.  
  
He slipped on the knuckle duster, testing its weight in his hand before delivering another hit, this time gouging Eren's cheeks. He hit again, again and again, relentless, taking out his self hatred on the immobile, unresponsive brunet.  
  
He kept going until it was too much, and he knew he'd end up killing Eren if he didn't force himself to stop. With one last drink from the bottle in his hand, he grabbed a fistful of Eren's hair and wrenched back his head, trying to get the brunet to look at him.  
  
Eren took the beating without a word, without even so much as a flinch. It was much better than any other torture he was put under though, however he was too far gone to even appreciate it. Even when Levi yanked his head back to make Eren look at him, though the eyes were technically on Levi, the gaze went right through him. Eren wasn't there.  
  
"No more!" Levi yells at him, tears brimming in his eyes but pride me damned, "Too many people have died because of me! No more!"  
  
He lets go of Eren, glares at him for a moment before going to unshackle him. Leaves him completely free. Too much death. Too much blood on his hands. No more after Mikasa. No more by his hands. Not even Eren.  
  
"You have until morning to get the fuck away from this city," he growls, not moving to touch Eren again, "Stay here if you need to recover. But don't get in my fucking way, you hear me?"  
  
Eren's only response is to blink, but it's not because he understood Levi. It's because his body is doing everything it can to keep the vision in his right eye intact after all the blood that got in it. His body responds without his conscious command. He doesn't plan on moving, much less fleeing the city. He doesn't give two shits what happens to him, and he's not going to do anything until someone physically moves him.  
  
Levi will come back in the morning, only to find Eren in the same state he'll leave him in now.  
  
"You're gonna die if you stay in this room," Levi tells him, voice breaking unevenly, "If you're not going to leave, at least sleep on a flat surface." He eyes Eren for quite some time before he realises what they'd done to him. He's hollow. Completely ruined. He isn't the same person anymore. "Fuck," Levi breathes out, cautiously reaching out to let his fingers touch just below Eren's injured eye, but stops himself short, whispering, "I'm sorry... I didn't know that- If I could've stopped her before-" But he cuts himself off, knowing he's crying all over again, and instead retreats until his back hits the wall, and he slumps down to the floor.  
  
Once again Eren's body responds without his command. The compassion, or even sympathy being shown to him allows for tears to start leaking from his blank eyes again, but that's the only thing Levi gets, not even movement. His subconscious wants him to do something, anything, but his conscious is too busy hysterically sobbing and screaming to even register anything around him.  
  
"She was all I had left," he choked out, fingers playing with the ring around his right thumb, "The only family I had left, and I killed her. No more. No more. They can kill me if that's the only way for me to get the fuck out of this life, but no more."  
  
He'd been neck deep in the blood of his enemies for centuries, but Mikasa was all it took for him to begin drowning, and drown he did. Quickly and painlessly.  
  
"But they won't kill me. They're paid to keep me alive. So I guess there's only one way; I can have a bullet in my head and be gone before the guards even respond."  
  
Eren's tears only kept flowing, but there was no tangible reason for them now. Maybe because Levi's words inspired his own subconscious to give up. "Kill me." His mouth moves, his vocal cords provide sound, but he doesn't hear it himself, only feels the movement of his lips.  
  
"I said," Levi growls, picking himself back up from the floor, "No more! No-more-no-more-no-more!" It sends him into delirium, and he's not shouting at Eren anymore, he's shouting at himself. At the voices in his head trained to tell him what a killer would do. To kill Eren and keep living his life like nothing happened. But no more.  
  
"No more!" he screams, looking at Eren now, but he doesn't know what to do. He's lost control of his tongue and his mind.  
  
Eren's eyes finally flick over to land on the smaller male, but that's about it, he says nothing else, only stares at him. He doesn't know why he's thinking like he is, but for some reason the most pertinent thought in his mind is how contradictory he sounds. He says no more, but he still wants to kill himself. He's wrong, and Eren for some damned reason needs Levi to understand this fact.  
  
"I will not kill any more. I will not kill for the sake of a family name," he hisses, "My life is my own to take, as yours is your own to take. And fuck me it may just be the fact that I've drunk way too much, but I don't want you to die."  
  
He catches what he's saying a little too late, and widens his eyes, but he can't stop the words from coming, "This city needs people like you, not people like me. And I- fuck I was gonna kill you because you hurt my pride a bit. Pathetic."  
  
Eren says nothing else, only flicks his eyes away from Levi to stare at the mirror in the room, only to flinch for the first time of his own accord at the sight of his eye now. It's a cloudy color, and looks gross next to the natural color of the one next to it. "Don't kill you." Is what comes out of Eren's mouth next when he looks back at Levi, cursing the fact that he sounds like a toddler but he has bigger problems at the moment.  
  
"I have no other choice," Levi breathes hollowly, "If I don't do this, nothing will change. Killing is engrained onto my bones, down to my core. I'm... I'm never gonna stop, unless I do this."  
  
Then, he walks towards Eren, and he's gentle in making the brunet meet his eyes. Fingertips press beneath the others chin, make him look up slowly, and Levi manages to choke out, "I'm sorry, Eren. I'm sorry for what she did to you. I'm sorry for what I was _going_ to do to you, and I know my apology isn't enough for what she put you through, and what I've done to you as well, but it's all I can give you."  
  
He steps back, far back, fingers burning from where he touched Eren, and he said slowly, "You need to leave before I do it."  
  
"Not. Leaving." Eren murmurs, and it's almost as if he's trying desperately to put emotion into it, but his voice is still monotone as he speaks. However his eyes bore into Levi's, expressing all he needs to. Determination. He wasn't going to let Levi kill himself. He doesn't know quite yet why he won't allow it, but all he knows is he can't let it happen.  
  
Is it because he's still stubbornly in the mindset that _he_ needs to kill Levi? No, no that's not right. All he cares about is if the target is dead, so if Levi dies, no matter the cause, his job is finished.  
  
_So... Why?_  
  
"Fine," the Raven spits, "Fine, stay here, and let them find you. You'll be dead before morning." He turns before he can let himself cave. He can't let it get to him. Too many people have died, and he wants to be the last. He leaves the doors open behind him, not even bothering to consider Eren might kill him anyway. He'll be dead either way.  
  
"You." Eren growls after him, and this time it's actually a growl. He still doesn't give a crap about himself, so Levi's words only chilled him at the fact that Levi didn't understand the intent behind Eren's words.  
  
"Not leaving you." Eren growls again and manages to stand and he's out the door before he knows it, trailing silently behind Levi just like he was trained. He's acting like this is a job, however it's the opposite of any job he's always done.  
  
This time, he's _preventing_ a killing.  
  
The music is the only thing that covers the sound of Eren tailing him, but Levi figures leaving it on may mask the gunshot. May give Eren the time he needs to get away from this place.  
  
He grabs a gun - any gun - just so long as it does the job, and heads back to his office, the grip cold against his palm from how tightly he clutches it. But he isn't hurried. He has time.  
  
Sinking to his knees behind the desk, he spins a combination into the safe, but his hand does not reach for the money, or the other items of great value. It goes for the picture, in the very back. An old, worn, framed photograph of his mother. He figured she'd be the last one he wanted to see before the world went dark.  
  
Eren's glad the numbness allows him to move as freely as he needs, nothing hindering in the slightest as he follows Levi, slipping into his office just before the door closes. He watches as Levi sinks to his knees out of sight, and Eren's flitting about, grabbing any weapons and moving them away from the desk, using the walls to his advantage and moving as a shadow, watching Levi the entire time.  
  
_It's a safe. He opened a safe. Why the fuck would he be-oh..._  
  
Eren takes his chance to move forward, taking advantage of Levi's distraction to crouch behind him, and then lunge forward to pin Levi's wrist that holds the gun to the floor and with the other hand, rip it out of his clutches.  
  
"What the f- you motherfucker!" Levi screams, but his slender frame is easily over powered by Eren, "What the fuck are you playing at, Jäeger? I'm doing us _both_ a favour! We both want me dead so just fucking let me do it! You fucking piece of shit! I hate you! I hate you..."  
  
He trails off into sobs, angry, broken sobs, gazing at the gun that had been wrenched easily from his grip. Even after all he'd endured, Eren was still stronger than him times over, and Levi made no effort to struggle beneath him.  
  
"You lied." Eren hisses, his lips twisted into a snarl despite the neutral voice. He doesn't even know what he's saying anymore, all he knows is he hates liars and Levi did just that. "Don't lie." This time there is hints of a growl as Eren bores his gaze into Levi, kicking the gun away and out of sight.  
  
"Fuck you!" Levi snaps back at him, "The fuck do you plan on doing now, asshole? Hold me down until morning? When my guys find you, you're fucking dead, you hear me?! Stop acting like you give a shit and give me my fucking gun back!"  
  
"No!" Eren snarls down at him, and it's that word that sends a tremor through him and he starts to feel again, but it's not pain, it's anger _fueled by_ the pain of losing his sight, "You said _no more_ , that includes you! Don't lie!"  
  
"If I don't do this, I'll kill again!" Levi shrieks, tears of anger staining his cheeks, "I'll do it without being able to control my own urges. And if you don't kill me, then I'll make sure I'm not alive to keep doing this! Just please, please let me do this. I'm so fucking tired, Eren... I'm so tired..."  
  
"Scared." Eren grumbles, shifting around to Levi's front and pressing the other down to the floor. He moves his hands so one holds both of Levi's wrists above his head, the other taking the photograph that clattered to the floor and holding it up to him, then pressing it to his chest.  
  
"You were scared." He mumbles again, taking his hand this time to brush across the stitched up wound across Levi's neck, "Scared of dying. I saw it. You don't want to die."  
  
Pride be damned; pride be fucking damned to Hell and Levi along with it, because he whimpered. He whimpered at the touch to his neck and Eren's words and the sight of the photograph. "But I have to," he whispers, "It isn't a matter of fear. I don't deserve the chance to escape death after all I've done to this city. The whole place would be better off without this mob. Without me."  
  
Eren snaps his teeth to Levi's response and shakes his head, huffing as he tries to think of a way to get across to him what he wants to say when he has _so few_ words now.  
  
That thought hits him like a ton of bricks, and it's like the life gets smashed out of him all over again. He can't talk anymore. His words, his communication, it's gone. _He's_ gone.  
  
"No...." He whispers, his voice cracked with emotion now as his grip falls slack on Levi's wrists and he practically slumps forward onto him, and the tears this time are actually broken by quiet sobs. For the first time in his life, he's actually _truly_ crying.  
  
Levi can't move when Eren all but collapsed on him. Eyes wide and body rigid, he's pinned and terrified. _What the- what even was this?_ He heard crying but, Eren didn't seem like the type to cry? _But his eyes; there'd been tears and-_  
  
"I'm sorry," he rasps, for the realisation came to hit him all over again; of what exactly the torture had done to him, "I'm sorry, Eren, I'm sorry. But I can't do anything now. You need to let me go, let it all go. Kill me yourself if you want to. I know it won't bring your sight back, but it might atone somewhat for what Mikasa did to you..."  
  
"No..." Eren's voice is muffled as he shakes his head on Levi's chest, "No.. No more... Y-you said no more.."  
  
"This isn't your choice, Eren," Levi sighs, not sure how to cope with this sudden contact, "I won't kill anyone else, but my life is mine to take. And life will be easier for you without me around anyway."  
  
"No!" Eren growls again, lifting his face to look at Levi dead on, eyes already blotchy as the tears stream down his cheeks, "Don't lie, Levi!"  
  
"I'm not lying to you, this has to be done," Levi murmurs, face and voice passive as he can make them, "You shouldn't lie. You shouldn't act like you care. You want me dead anyway, so what's your problem?"  
  
"I don't know!" Eren finally screams, the true sobbing now taking ahold of him and feeling floods his body, making pain now surge through his veins, and he's paralyzed by it. The only thing he can do is cry, everything about him is gone, he feels again, he's crying, his eyes, his voice, this is truly _Eren_ , not Humanity's Last Hope, this was the Eren before he lost his mother.  
  
Levi recoils at that, shuffling a little away from Eren but still not able to get out from beneath him, and he doesn't know what in the hell to do. Part of him, very quiet and tucked away, tells him to hold Eren and comfort him, but it's vastly overpowered by the small voice telling him to finish it. To just let the world go dark.  
  
"Eren," he breathes gently, "Why are you crying? You must have a reason."  
  
"H-hurts..." He whimpers quietly, unable to move at all now besides making his hands grip Levi shirt when he tries to shuffle away, a childlike gesture to get him to stay. "I-it h-hurts... E-everyth-thing hurts..." He cries desperately, grip tightening, "N-not _me_.. Any-anymore..."  
  
"I know," Levi replies softly, sitting upright but not moving Eren, instead wrapping and arm around his shoulder to hold him as best as the raven knew how to, "I know. I hurt too. But I'm weaker than you; my only solution is death. You're stronger than that. That's why you have to let me do this, please... I don't want to hurt people anymore, not like how I let Mikasa hurt you."  
  
This time it wasn't to prove a point, this time Eren actually _meant_ the words, "Kill me... Please... Just kill me..."  
  
"No."  
  
Levi releases Eren, moves away from him and stands up before the brunet can stop him. "I told you no more, Eren. No more. Just me. If you want to die, that choice is in your own hands, but I can see you're scared too. You're hurting. And there's nothing I can do to help, because I know why you're hurting. All I can do is say I'm sorry and that... that..."  
  
Eren's grip, even if it was as tight as he could manage, was still too weak as he felt Levi's shirt slip so easily from his fingers. He stays a crumpled heap on the floor, surging waves of pain flowing through him from all the damage inflicted on his body rendering him completely immobile. He can only whimper, not even responsive to Levi's words. He failed, he can't move, and Levi was able to get away from him. All he has to do is stay here and he'll die in the morning, he'll get what he wants, and Levi will get what he wants.  
  
"I can't let you die," Levi spits out after long moments of silence, "Fuck it- she tried to kill you and I was ready to but I'm not gonna let you die."  
  
He crouched in front of Eren, but stayed out of reach, murmuring softly, "Eren? Eren, I can see you're in pain. Please let me help. I know it hurts but please, please... If-if I can help, then I can get us out of here, take you somewhere where they can fix you properly..."  
  
His mind registers Levi's words this time, but they only sent a searing pain through his chest and he gasps, shaking his head quickly, the feeling foreign and unwelcome. It's not any pain he's ever felt before and he doesn't know what it is, nor does he want Levi to stick around for him to find out, "Leave." He sobs quickly, and realizing too late that though his conscious meant one thing by it, his subconscious meant the opposite. He wanted Levi to leave, but the way he said it gave the impression that he wanted to leave with him.  
  
"I'm not going anywhere," Levi growls, "Considering you're in _my_ office anyway but I just- fuck, Eren, please. Please just let me make sure your wounds are okay. Then I can get you out of here." He doesn't know what to do; the last thing he wants is to anger Eren, but he's in so much pain, and there's so much more blood on him than Levi remembers.  
  
"Leave.. With... Me.." He whimpers, trying desperately to get Levi to understand, "N-no dying, n-neither o-of us d-die... J-just need t-to leave."  
  
"Eren we- I can't take you with me where I'm going. They'll come for me, for both of us, but I can take you home; please, I can't put you in harms way anymore," Levi pleads. No matter how much he wants to take Eren with him, to heal him and try to atone for what he did, he knew he couldn't do so. "I can't protect you out there..."  
  
"Y-yes you can.." Eren pleads, finally lifting his gaze to look up at Levi again, "J-just need time... I-I'll p-protect y-you too!"  
  
"Come on," Levi tells him gently, offering out his hands to help Eren up from the floor, "I'll take you to my apartment and get you patched up, then we're going off the grid. I'll keep you safe, Eren, I promise."  
  
"Thank you..." Eren chokes out, slowly and with shaking hands, reaching out to take Levi's. He stumbles at first as he gets up, but eventually finds his feet, even if his legs threaten to buckle underneath him.  
  
"I'm too short for this kinda shit," Levi growls as he ducks beneath Eren's arm to offer support, other arm wrapping around the brunets waist to help him walk. He was so weak compared to hours ago, but Levi didn't let himself dwell. It was pushing 2am. People would be turning up in five hours, leaving them not much time to get out of the city and off the grid.  
  
Through the dimly lit corridors, he lead Eren, then down to the basement car park where sat a few jeeps. He bundled the brunet into one before clambering in the other side, always attentive for any guards that might be lurking.  
  
Eren can only sag into the seat in relief, hissing at the pain in his legs from the gunshots. Then a thought hit him, the blood. There was gonna be a trail of blood leading through the hallways.  
  
"Levi.. Levi blood." Eren whimpers, looking out the window and in fact seeing just that, steady splatters of red coating the cement in the garage.  
  
"Doesn't matter," Levi huffs, "They won't find us where we're going. I'll dump the jeep somewhere and we'll use my car. No tracker in it. Just relax, Eren, we're gonna be fine."  
  
It wasn't the truth, but then again it wasn't a total lie, either. It was somewhere in the middle enough to settle Levi.  
  
Eren only whimpers again when he hears the purr of the engine come to life, and sinks back into the seat again, leaning his temple against the window and trying to figure out how he'd been able to block out the pain for so long. He hated this, he hated how just simply losing eyesight in one eye rendered him to this. He'd rather be dead than have to accept the fact that this is who he was now-  
  
His eyes blow open and he scrambles, clawing at the door until he finds the handle, popping open the door and essentially rolling out of the jeep with none of his normal grace. He's a crumpled heap on the ground, coughing as he desperately tries to get to his feet again.  
  
Levi can only stare for a moment or two. They'd moved no further than two feet from the parking space before Eren collapsed out of the jeep, looking frantic. Without even bothering to turn off the engine, he jumps out, bolting after the brunet.  
  
"Eren?! The fuck are you doing? What's going on?"

**Author's Note:**

> As ever, you can find both authors on tumblr:  
> Damien (Levi): [space-vvolf](http://little-vvolf-cosplay.tumblr.com/)  
> Tobi (Eren): [jaegerhugs](http://jaegerhugs.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Click the links in the notes above to take a peek at our personal/snk blogs on tumblr, and feel free to follow if you like what you see! Comments are always appreciated and welcomed, and please drop a kudos and/or a comment! Make sure to let us know which RP's you like the most so we know which ones to update! Thanks!


End file.
